The Nurse is In
by ajpopper
Summary: Gotham City has more than enough crime and madness tearing through its streets on a daily basis. When the Joker and Harley take a new Arkham inmate under their wing, Batman knows there's more to the Joker's plan than just being friendly. It could never be that simple.


"Do you know why you're here, miss…Park?"

A long silence followed. Deep shaky breaths filled the void, but eventually a quiet voice responded.

"Yes." Another pause punctuated her words, but she didn't linger in it too long. "No?"

"You don't know why you're here?" The woman on the other side of the table leaned forward against it, hands curling over the sparse paperwork piled neatly in front of her. Her patient stirred and met her curious gaze but just as quickly looked away.

"No. I know why I'm here." She ran her hands over the thin fabric of her uniform, pulling it up into her palms. The confusion in her voice was palpable when she continued, staring hard down at the floor. "I just don't know why I'm _here._"

"Here with me?" The woman behind the table leaned back slightly, looking over the top of the paperwork. _Eileen Park. _There was surprisingly little on the girl's mental history available, considering the circumstances. It certainly made it more difficult to gauge her…cooperation. As she continued to flip through the few pages in front of her Eileen pulled her eyes away from the ground and up towards the woman cross-examining her.

"Here as in Arkham. Dr. Leary am I….do they consider me dangerous?" The dark haired girl's look was pleading. Desperate for answers.

Dr. Leary was the Psychiatrist assigned to her case. Her auburn braids were pulled back into a bun on the back of her head, her sharp features displaying little if any emotion. The look she returned to Eileen was, in a word, clinical. It shouldn't have been surprising; she worked in an Asylum as notorious as Arkham, after all. Being friendly didn't fit in with the job description.

"Yes and no." Eileen released the grip on her pantlegs, pulling her hands together on her lap instead as she stiffened.

"I can see this has been a difficult few days for you, but do you recall the judge's ruling?" Leary immediately pushed on without waiting for a response, though Eileen had opened her mouth as if to speak. "You were found guilty of assault by provocation. You were fined and sentenced to spend three weeks at William's Medical Center in order to keep any further mental issues from escalating. Unfortunately," Here she paused, and tapped her fingernails on the table almost impatiently, "William's had to be evacuated this morning due to a gas leak. Some patients were transferred to other local hospitals, but those who were considered to be a potential threat to themselves or others were brought here to Arkham where they can receive more specialized care. Does that help you understand?"

Eileen's stomach churned uncomfortably. Yes, it helped her understand. She _was _dangerous. She swallowed hard and shifted in her seat as the realization of her situation began to settle in.

Watching as her discomfort grew, Dr. Leary slowly pulled a notebook and pen from a brown leather bag at her feet. The click of the pen seemed loud in the stark silence that fell between them. After allowing her patient a few moments to collect herself the doctor cleared her throat and put pen to paper.

"Miss Park, can you tell me what made you attack that man?"

The facial response to her question was instantaneous, though the verbal took a few seconds to catch up. Eileen shot the psychologist an indignant look before she said, "He touched me. I was caught off guard."

Leary turned her eyes from Eileen and back to the paperwork still piled next to her notebook. She lifted a page and her eyes skimmed quickly over the one below it. "Witnesses testify that Mr. Harding was an employee of the pharmacy, and that after the power went out he was attempting to help customers out of the store. You didn't notice that the power had gone out when Mr. Harding approached you?"

Eileen's hands, which were still clasped almost too tightly in her lap, released as she brought her arms defensively over her chest. "Of course I had noticed. I was panicked. When he touched me I didn't know who he was, just that I was alone in the dark and someone was coming up beside me. I didn't think, I just reacted."

"Beating someone half to death is a strong reaction." She watched the girl shrink into herself and quickly changed tact. "Why were you panicked, Eileen?" Dr. Leary's voice was softer, but no less pressing.

"I…I don't know. It was dark so suddenly and I was alone…afraid…" The confidence that had been in her voice only a moment ago wavered as her words trailed off. Dr. Leary quickly scrawled something in her notes.

"You have a fear of being alone in the dark. Does that come from somewhere? An experience you had, something that made you afraid?" Her dark brown eyes darted across Eileen's posture as she looked for anything she wasn't saying in words. She had pulled further into herself, her body hunched so that her forearms almost touched the tops of her thighs. Her eyes were trained once again on the ground, but the gaze was different; they were affixed to it.

"No." The response was quiet. It hung in the air as if she wanted to say more, but she couldn't find the words. Instead she said, just as low, "I didn't mean to hurt him."

Temporarily ignoring the grief in her voice, Dr. Leary picked up another page from Eileen's Papers and asked, "Can you tell me about your boyfriend, Thomas?"

Thomas Rawlins, 27. Killed in a drug deal gone south six months earlier. Leary had seen enough of his type, less of the grieving girlfriends. But she got no response from Eileen. She gave her the space to recollect herself, but even after several minutes she was unresponsive. Her patient had shut down.

Dr. Leary sighed and stood up. She placed her pen on top of her notebook, and even as she walked out from behind the table the girl didn't move. She gave a short rap on the metal door that led out into one of the maze-like halls of the asylum and waved to the security guard keeping watch outside. The heavy groan and creak of the metal was enough to send shivers down anyone's back as it echoed through the empty-walled room, but no one paid it much attention. The guard nodded at Dr. Leary as he passed by to grab Eileen by the arm. She stood up without much prompting, but her gaze was fixed on a point somewhere ahead of her and she didn't look away from it as they left the room. "_Dissociation, maybe." _Dr. Leary thought as she watched them go. _"I'll have to remember that for next time."_


End file.
